Brett Hundley speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Brett Hundley speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Brett Hundley speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Brett Hundley speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Brett Hundley talks about how his surprise for his parents was upended by the media's quick posting of his signing during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Brett Hundley talks about how his surprise for his parents was upended by the media's quick posting of his signing during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Brett Hundley talks about how his surprise for his parents was upended by the media's quick posting of his signing during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Brett Hundley talks about how his surprise for his parents was upended by the media's quick posting of his signing during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Brett Hundley speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Brett Hundley speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Brett Hundley shakes the hand of ESPN's Josh Weinfuss after his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Brett Hundley shakes the hand of ESPN's Josh Weinfuss after his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Reporters take pictures of Terrell Suggs as he speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Reporters take pictures of Terrell Suggs as he speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Photos: Cardinals introductory press conference

Terrell Suggs speaks with the media during his introductory press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz. on March 14, 2019.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

It was supposed to be a surprise visit home just to see his family. Instead, it turned out to be a surprise on the guy who planned it all.

Brett Hundley’s return to the Valley last week couldn’t have worked out better.

“It was crazy,” the Cardinals’ newest quarterback said. “At first, I was coming here to surprise my family, just to say, ‘Hey, I’m back for a week and then I’ll head back to Seattle and see what happens from there.’ But as soon as I landed, I got a call from my agent saying, ‘Hey, everything worked out (with the Cardinals). You’re good to go. Green light.’

“So my surprise of ‘Hey, I’m coming back for a week’ turned into ‘Hey, I’m coming back for good.’ It was an awesome phone call, just an awesome opportunity to be back here. I’m really excited and can’t wait to get going.”

Hundley, the former Chandler High and UCLA star, wasn’t sure exactly where he would end up once the NFL’s free-agency signing period began. After three seasons as a backup to Aaron Rodgers with the Packers and spending last season in Seattle backing up Russell Wilson with the Seahawks, he said he hoped the Cardinals might be interested.

They had just released backup Mike Glennon, so there was an opening. Hundley, who became UCLA's all-time leader in touchdown passes and ranks second in career passing yards, kept his fingers crossed and waited to hear any word from his agent. In the meantime, he decided to fly home and visit his family.

“My mom was flying with me so my mom was in on the surprise,” he said. “But I was going to surprise my dad and my sister, who are here, and my whole family.”

CLOSE

Kent and Bob break down the news after linebacker Terrell Suggs and quarterback Brett Hundley were introduced at the Cardinals Training Facility.
Patrick Breen, Arizona Republic

When his agent called, Hundley was told the Cardinals were prepared to offer him a one-year deal worth about $2 million. He immediately said “yes,” but passed word to the Cardinals not to release the news so he could still surprise the rest of his family.

Before he walked through the front door, the news was already out. It was all over the internet and social media.

“I’m like, ‘Perfect,’ ” Hundley said. “I hang up the phone and no joke, 10 minutes later I look on Instagram and I see all these notifications. It’s not like I posted a picture so I’m like, ‘Something had to happen big.’ I looked at a tag photo and it was like breaking news.”

Worse, one local TV sports anchor had already called Hundley’s dad, seeking reaction.

“Yeah, all that (the surprise) got ruined.”

It was still a special surprise for Hundley, though. The idea of coming home with a chance to play for his hometown team couldn’t have been a better thrill.

“It’s always one of those surreal things you think about,” he said, “like ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to go back home and play for the Cardinals?’ Obviously, getting drafted to the Packers and to go to Seattle last year, I was pretty close. I (at) least I was on the West Coast. It’s not too bad of a flight, instead of going up to Wisconsin, for my family.

“It’s surreal. You always think about it growing up. Freakin’ going to Chandler High school, playing ball there and now playing for the Cardinals? Unbelievable.”

Hundley, 25, isn’t sure whom he will be backing up in Arizona, of course. It could be the Cardinals’ incumbent starter, Josh Rosen, whom he preceded for a year at UCLA and knows well. It could be Kyler Murray, whom the team might select with the first overall pick in next month’s draft. It might even be a different rookie, Dwayne Haskins from Ohio State, although that seems less likely but not necessarily out of the realm of possibility.

Now one would assume Hundley probably inquired of the Cardinals as to who will be the starting quarterback in 2019. Except he didn’t ask. And they wouldn’t tell, even if they knew. Not that any of it matters to Hundley, however, because he doesn’t view himself as a backup quarterback.

Asked what he was told his role would be, he said, “Just to compete. I think that’s the name of the game.”

“I think anywhere I go, no matter the situation, even in Green Bay, even in Seattle, my job is to compete, try to play and try to be on the field as much as possible,” he continued. “It’s to try to get the starting role. That doesn’t change no matter where I’m at, where I’m playing, whom I’m playing against, whom I’m competing against, even Aaron.

“My job is the same. I think that’s what you want. You don’t want somebody to come in and expect to be second or third. We don’t play this game for that. I don’t. So my job is to compete the best I can do and show the coaches in this offense that I can flourish and hopefully, get an opportunity.”

The majority of Hundley’s modest playing time thus far in the NFL came in 2017, when he started nine games for the Packers in placed of an injured Rodgers and threw for 1,836 yards and nine touchdowns with 13 interceptions. He didn’t play at all as a rookie and he didn’t take a single regular-season snap last year in Seattle.

But Hundley sees an opportunity back home in the desert new Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury and Arizona’s version of the up-tempo “Air Raid” offense.

“I think that’s foremost. The offense fits me,” he said. “It’s something I’ve waited to play in for a long time and I can’t wait to get going. It’s something I played in with Noel Mazzone (at UCLA). … This offense is going to be fun. To play with the Packers for three years, to learn that offense. To play for Seattle last year, to learn that offense. All the knowledge I’ve gained. To play in this offense knowing now everything else I know, I can’t wait.”

Having worked alongside two of the NFC’s most successful quarterbacks in Rodgers and Wilson can’t hurt, either. Hundley said he learned how to dissect the game and how to study it from both men. It’s the intangibles off-the-field they taught him, he said, that were just as important.

“That’s where a lot of the learning happens,” Hundley said. “Just being around that, you soak up a lot. Sometimes, it’s not even what they see. It’s watching them, what they do.”

Note

The Cardinals on Saturday made the free-agent signing of guard Max Garcia official, announcing they agreed to a one-year contract with the four-year veteran who has appeared in 57 games for the Broncos and started in 41 of them. Garcia, 27, was a fourth-round pick out of Florida by the Broncos in 2015 and as a rookie, was a starter on Denver’s Super Bowl-winning team.

Have an opinion on the Arizona Cardinals? Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com and follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac. Listen to him live every Tuesday afternoon between 2-5:30 on AM 1060/SB Nation Radio on Calling All Sports with Roc and Manuch and every Wednesday afternoon between 1-4 on Fox Sports 910-AM on The Freaks with Kenny and Crash.